Trading Up to a Grand Spaulding 1971 Six-Pack Dodge Charger

When Norm Kraus partnered with his brother, Len, to sell used cars from their father’s gas station in 1948, he planted the seed that would later blossom into a Mopar performance dynasty. In 1951, in order to expand their operation, the Kraus brothers bought the property adjacent to their dad’s station in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, at the corner of West Grand and North Spaulding avenues. By the mid 1950s, in response to the emerging market, they were focusing on performance-oriented cars, and that continued when they became a new car dealer for Dodge in the fall of 1962. By then, Norm was known as “Mr. Norm,” and the dealership, Grand Spaulding Dodge, quickly became the epicenter for Mopar performance.

In 1964, the first Grand Spaulding Dodge race team was formed to campaign Max Wedge and Hemi-powered cars in the Chicago area and beyond. The following year, Mr. Norm teamed up with pro driver Gary Dyer to race an altered wheelbase Coronet. At season’s end Dyer set a national record with the supercharged Hemi car, clicking off a blazing 8.63-second pass at Lions Dragway in Los Angeles.

The focus on performance-minded buyers and commitment to high-level drag racing is what got the attention of our feature car’s original owner, Aurora, Illinois, resident David Schwartz. He had a ’69 SS396 Chevelle that, despite plenty of horsepower and torque, and 4.10:1 gears, didn’t wind up quickly enough for his taste. In 1970 he sold it and bought a ‘70 Impala, but that wasn’t any more satisfying than the Chevelle. After some serious soul searching Schwartz concluded that he really wanted a Hemi car. Unfortunately, he reached this decision in September 1971 and by then the 1972 model year had begun and Chrysler was no longer producing Hemi-powered cars. Desperate to satisfy his need for speed, Schwartz and his wife went to the only Dodge dealer in the world that might still have leftover 1971 Hemi-powered cars in stock, Grand Spaulding Dodge.

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Much to Schwartz’s consternation, Mr. Norm had already sold every Hemi car they had, and even they couldn’t get any more. Grand Spaulding did, however, have an extensive selection of other high-performance cars in its inventory, ready for immediate gratification. Schwartz and his wife strolled through one of the dealership’s storage lots to peruse what was available. Interestingly, he was immediately attracted to a ’71 440, six-pack Charger that had been sitting on the lot for almost a full year — even though, Schwartz said, it was so filthy it looked black rather than Hemi Orange.

On September 9, 1971, Schwartz left a $30 deposit for the Charger and returned two days later to finalize the purchase. Coincidentally, that was exactly one year after the car’s production date of September 11, 1970, as indicated on its fender tag. Shortly after taking delivery, Schwartz made some minor modifications to the car, including painting the original rims black (cars produced prior to around March 1971 came with body-color rims) and adding beauty rings.

The following spring, Schwartz and his wife headed to Missouri in their Charger to visit family. The car, which had only about 1,000 miles on the clock, was built in Chrysler’s Fenton, Missouri, assembly plant, so it was something of a homecoming — or at least it would’ve been if the car made it there. Cruising along I-80, Schwartz heard a slight ticking noise from the engine. It quickly got worse, so they stopped and called the closest dealership, which was in Clinton, Iowa. The dealer told Schwartz to drive the car right in, but a short time later the engine quit running, so a tow truck was dispatched to collect it. Schwartz recalls seeing antifreeze running out of one of the exhaust tips when the tow truck raised the front of the car up.

Schwartz left his Charger at the Iowa dealership and returned about a week later via bus to retrieve it, but didn’t make it very far before the allegedly repaired engine quit again. The car went straight back to the dealership, where it was diagnosed with a spun rod bearing. A week later, the frustrated owner returned to Iowa again — this time the car really was fixed, courtesy of a brand-new short-block assembly.

The service replacement engine ran perfectly, and Schwartz enjoyed the car very much in the ensuing years, ultimately selling it to Joe Stocks in June of 1978. Stocks kept the Charger a little over six years, eventually selling it to Californian Michael Higgins. Higgins owned the Hemi Orange beauty from July 1984 through September 2016, which is when it went to John Magno.

Magno appreciated the car very much, but his first love was a particular ’71 GTX he was unable to buy when it was for sale previously. When that GTX was again for sale, Magno contacted the seller, Jeff Nakashima, to see if he’d be interested in a trade. Nakashima was immediately drawn to the Charger because of its documentation, and that it was a Mr. Norm’s car. “After about two months of negotiating,” recalls Nakashima, “we agreed and made the trade. I trailered my GTX to Las Vegas and then trailered the Charger back home.”

Nakashima is a seasoned Mopar collector, having owned a ’71 Roadrunner, ’67 Dart convertible, ’72 ’Cuda, ’72 GTX, ’69 Roadrunner, ’73 Charger, and ’70 Challenger RT in the past. “I love restoring vintage Mopar muscle,” he tells us, “but recently lost money on the rebuilds, so I stopped building them and started buying them already complete. It’s not nearly as rewarding, but it’s more economical. Since trading for the Charger I’ve made only minor changes, including new floor mats and buying a vintage battery.”

In addition to making a few small improvements to the car, Nakashima has enjoyed displaying it in local shows, where it consistently earns accolades, and driving it with some frequency. “It’s a wonderful car to drive,” he says, “with plenty of power from the 440 six-pack engine, and great features like power disc brakes and power steering. These cars can be a handful when you’re trying to muscle one around without power steering, or stop in a hurry with manual disc brakes! This one has a lot of options that keep me entertained and make it great fun to drive.”